From Clerice. These puppies are out of a Brazilian and American show champion sire.
The hindquarters of a chow are nearly straight. These dogs move in a stilted, yet surprisingly graceful motion.
They do not have the legs of a water dog or any breed that is designed to run hard for many hours.
As a result, the chow is really a laid-back breed.
This gait is one of the defining features of the breed in the show ring, every bit as much a part of the breed as its blue-black tongue.
If I were breeding show chows, I’d be very much concerned about producing this gait in my line. If I saw this in virtually any breed of working dog, I’d be really concerned.
Don’t chow chows have a purpose?
Absolutely.
They are natural guard dogs for Chinese farms.
They were also prized for their pelts and meat.
We can encourage watch-dog abilities in Chows.
Eating them and wearing their fur, well, that’s not part of our social mores.
And although I might complain about dogs shows and their effects on working breeds that still have a purpose, can we accept that the show ring might be the best way to evaluate these breeds?
I know that the chows Konrad Lorenz kept and loved looked a bit different from these dogs, but I have no good answers here. These dogs looked a bit like the Eurasier dogs, which are derived from the old-type chow.
Please don’t think I’m going soft here, I just don’t think there is a good way to evaluate chow chows, except dog shows.
And yes, the hindquarters of this dog will continue to get straighter and straighter as selective breeding for this gait continues through the generations.
Lots of questions. No good answers.
There are actually a few (very few) chow breeders agitating to change the standard to require SOME rear angulation, if not much. The stilted gait is traditional- bones that are balanced upon each other like a tower of toothpicks are not! There’s a lady in Alaska with a really lovely obedience chow who is part of that group, apparently, and her dog sounds like a really impressive dog.
In the past ten years, chows have changed a lot. They used to be maneaters that were impossible to train.
The contractor who has done some work on my parents house had a Chow of the old-type. This dog lived to be 22.
I do think temperaments are getting more stable. I used be quite worried every time we had one in to be groomed when I was working at a grooming shop, but I haven’t met a sharky unpredictable one in at least 5 years.
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